Some of my patients told me that they have "chemo brain". They felt that they could not remember things as well and sometimes got disoriented. Some reported that they were not as "sharp" as they used to.
Out of curiosity, I investigated this and found a recent study reviewing 17 studies in 807 patients previously chemotherapy treated for breast cancer. Neuropsychological tests were done to look at eight cognitive domains: attention, executive functioning, information processing, motor speed, verbal ability, verbal memory, visual memory, and visuospatial ability. The study revealed that indeed patients treated with chemo (in contrast to control or prechemo baseline) performed worse in verbal and visuospatial abilities. Age, education, time since treatment, and endocrine therapy did not moderate these impairments.
Thus, Chemo brain indeed exists - at least in these patients.
Reference:
Out of curiosity, I investigated this and found a recent study reviewing 17 studies in 807 patients previously chemotherapy treated for breast cancer. Neuropsychological tests were done to look at eight cognitive domains: attention, executive functioning, information processing, motor speed, verbal ability, verbal memory, visual memory, and visuospatial ability. The study revealed that indeed patients treated with chemo (in contrast to control or prechemo baseline) performed worse in verbal and visuospatial abilities. Age, education, time since treatment, and endocrine therapy did not moderate these impairments.
Thus, Chemo brain indeed exists - at least in these patients.
Reference:
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